We are Pretending it's Spring

My neighbor baked a lovely summery strawberry cake today and shared it with us.  Delicious.
And I continue to sew clothes pin bags for my Etsy shoppe.  Had to wait for the all-day-pouring
rain to stop around suppertime so I could hang it on the clothesline for a snapshot!
Such a damp chill in the air called for a crock pot full of beef vegetable stew.... it saved the day!
Hope it's warmer where you live.

Like Snow Off a Duck's Back.....

Wait, isn't it supposed to be "like water off a duck's back?"  Mr. and Mrs. Mallard have been hanging around in the snow under our bird feeder.  After on-again off-again spring, we had a good 6" of snow dumped on us here over night complete with power outages.  Hopefully this late spring storm will be the last.   Only our hound-mix, Reggie, gets it right.... have a good nap somewhere comfy!

Where is Spring, anyway?

 We thought Spring was here when we drove to Tennessee mid-March and flowering trees were in bloom and robins were everywhere.   We came back to Michigan, the snow was mostly gone and daffodils were peeping through the frozen crust of earth.

 Vernal Equinox sounds magical, so I continued my personal tradition of burning the Christmas tree
in the fire pit on the beach.... light mist.... no snow.... hoping for Spring on the official first day.

And this is NOW!  We were hit with a foot of "Spring  Snow" and the deer are back at the bird feeder looking for hand outs.... here they are roaming on the frozen lake.   So, where is Spring, anyway?

Sock # 3 plus Chenille

Perhaps I have been permanently bitten by the sock bug.  Here is a photo of sock # 3 and the beginning of it's mate.  I included some examples of my failed attempts at sock knitting.... several, in fact, yet one day I may finish them all.  I never could get past the "heel turn" before and at long last it is beginning to make sense.

Otherwise, I have been absent from blogging because I am doing a bit of spring sorting and clearing out.  I have an extensive vintage chenille collection... many of the beautiful old bedspreads are cutters or in pieces.  I have been packaging them in craft-project-sized bundles for my eBay friends and they are flying out of here.  A neighbor stopped by before the clear out began and looked at the shelves heaped full to the ceiling.... she said if those shelves fell over on me I would die of "chenilluffocation!"  

Pair of Purple Socks

 

At long last I have completed two matching socks!    And all thanks to a great sock knitting class by 

Amy Tyler of www.stonesockfibers.com 

You can also view Amy's blog here.

  

National Pie Day

According to the American Pie Council, today is "National Pie Day."   I learned this from fellow blogger Pat of Mille Fiori Favoriti.   Today is another cold but sunny beautiful day in northwest lower Michigan.  It warmed up to zero at noon.   So I dove into cooking again....  While Split Pea Soup and my basic recipe for Goulash/Chili Base simmered, I tried Pat's Apple Cheese Tart.... doesn't it look yummy?  I added a pear as well because I had one!

Sunday Afternoon ~ 10 degrees

It seemed the best thing for this frigid day was to do a bit of meditative chopping and put a couple of pots of soup on the stove to simmer, then settle in with an enjoyable book:    Reading ~ "A Servant's Tale" by Margaret Frazer.  Simmering ~ Creamy Chicken Vegetable on the left and Buffalo Black Bean Chili on the right.  Stay warm!